Broncos’ Tony Carter apologizes for tweet about theater shooting

Posted by Michael David Smith on October 9, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

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Broncos cornerback Tony Carter made an incredibly tasteless attempt at a joke on Monday night, referencing the July shooting in a Denver-area theater that left 12 dead and 58 injured. On Tuesday morning he apologized.

Carter wrote on Twitter Monday night, “At a late night movie in Denver yall pray for me!” He later deleted that tweet and tweeted, “No Disrespect!!!” Shortly after posting, he deleted that tweet as well.

On Tuesday morning, Carter wrote on Twitter that he is “truly sorry” for what he tweeted, promising it will never happen again.

I am truly sorry for the insensitive and inappropriate comment I made last night. It will never happen again.

Carter isn’t the first NFL player to write something stupid on Twitter, and he won’t be the last. But as a resident of the Denver area thinking it was OK to make a joke about the theater shooting, he might have been the most insensitive.

Let me be the dumb “insensitive” one and say…what’s the big deal about the guy’s comment other than it wasn’t funny. I live in a town that had a school shooting and I wouldn’t care if someone made the same crack about that. Did he say the people of Den are to blame? No? What’s offensive????? (prepares for a bazillion thumbs down, etc.)

spellingcops says:Oct 9, 2012 10:34 AM

Wow, what a JA.

lightcleric says:Oct 9, 2012 10:36 AM

To be fair, at least there are some tweets by NFL players that aren’t dumb.

For example……………………………………

colinito says:Oct 9, 2012 10:38 AM

Much ado about nothing. As long as he didn’t yell fire in the theatre, or fire upon the theatre, what’s the big deal? Oops that may count as a joke. I better apologize or the MDS speech police may put me before the firing line.

Nah, but really, it’s not like he was condoning the shooter’s actions– it actually seems like the thought of safety crossed his mind, and so he tried to make light of the situation. And he can joke about what he wants to joke about– celebrities stop apologizing for being real human beings.

sikoix says:Oct 9, 2012 10:39 AM

Probably a stupid thing to say, but he’s not the first one to think it I’m sure. “Incredibly tasteless” seems a bit on the sensitive side to me — but I do wonder why active NFL players even bother tweeting anything at all. Does anyone really even pay attention unless it’s a tweet that gets them in trouble?

Considering the amount of community service the Broncos put in during the aftermath (Tony Carter included), I will give him the benefit of the doubt on the apology. He realized what he said was wrong and he took accountability for it immediately (unlike Mendenhall). Non-story.

lol. I thought it was kind of funny. Everyone has to be so politicly correct now. if a comedian had said that the crowd would have said “oooh” then laughed. everyone needs to lighten up. this happened!

mwatts1 says:Oct 9, 2012 10:54 AM

Dumb move but a quick apologie. See how easy it is to apologize and it is all good. I wish other atheletes/people would take the same road.

blackandbluedivision says:Oct 9, 2012 11:03 AM

CKL says: Oct 9, 2012 10:34 AM

Let me be the dumb “insensitive” one and say…what’s the big deal about the guy’s comment other than it wasn’t funny. I live in a town that had a school shooting and I wouldn’t care if someone made the same crack about that. Did he say the people of Den are to blame? No? What’s offensive????? (prepares for a bazillion thumbs down, etc.)
_________________________

I’m sure you wouldn’t care. But, have stopped to ask the victims of that shooting or the families if they care. Especially so soon after the shooting.

Not gonna lie… I posted a similar message on my facebook when I went to see taken 2 on opening night.

Immature? Maybe. But the fact that my gf and I can’t even enjoy a movie without being on constant high alert is troubling. We had to plan escape routes, seating situation, etc. in case something out of the ordinary did happen.

I understand the hypersensitive nature surrounding carter’s tweets, but its really hard for me to judge someone for something that I did as well.

Pretty offensive if you ask me. Actually, pretty stupid….again, think before you Tweet!

lovestheravens says:Oct 9, 2012 12:18 PM

why should I care what Tony Carter says, tweets, posts or whatever other social media is out there that I don’t even know or care about. I am not asking him to raise my kids, I am asking him to defend a pass once in a while…..It does not matter to me what his views on any subject are. He is not my friend nor do I want him to be. He plays a game for a living. I am not sure why all these non-football game related stories are interesting.

situsavaisprier says:Oct 9, 2012 12:26 PM

People are just too sensitive whenever an athlete, celebrity, or public figure does or say something. It really is not a big deal. I bet someone at least thought about suing Carter for his tweet that caused “emotional trauma and pain” and because of that the person is afraid to go on Social Networking sites.

Very distasteful, the written word on Twitter has a certain connotation especially when you use exclamation marks and you could be sounding sarcastic or making fun of somebody or laughing. It sounded like he was upbeat and having fun and for some reason wanted to mock the shooting incident in some kind of jesting way? Weird and bizarre.

But also what is he apologizing for, is he saying that he wont be inappropriate and insensitive ever again in general, or just that he won’t jest about the shooting incident again via Tweeting? It’s not even a clear apology, therefore it’s not a good one, or one that seems genuinely sincere.

And these celebs should stop deleting the Tweets and showing they are trying to hide their mistakes or brush them under the rug, that just embarrasses them more.

blackandbluedivision says:Oct 9, 2012 3:05 PM

Unless any of you are, in some way, related to a victim of this shooting in Denver. You don’t have the right to tell someone to “lighten up” or “it’s not offensive.” It’s not supposed to offend you if it has nothing to do with you.

contract says:Oct 9, 2012 3:20 PM

“Unless any of you are, in some way, related to a victim of this shooting in Denver. You don’t have the right to tell someone to “lighten up” or “it’s not offensive.””

Like hell I don’t. Being the victim of crime or tragedy doesn’t give you editorial control over the rest of society.

sullijo1 says:Oct 9, 2012 3:56 PM

I said the Same Thing when I went to the movies for the first time after the shooting….this is stupid.

This type of reporting is what is now happening since we let the Liberal Democrat Sensitivity Police take control of the media.